Dear Readers: Austerity and Complaining are the most prominent buzz-words for our health as we greet 2013! Having stared at our nation’s fiscal cliff and decided to make a waterfall of it, we’re going over it, it seems! And even if some deal is reached New Year’s Day, some of us are a little shaky, too.

Americans in their politics and religions love to fight, yes! A trait I’ve always felt we inherited from our European forbearers. And the more we see we’re joined at the hips by the two heavyweights, the more fighting you’ll see!

Which is why I usually read a blog or two from “across the pond” occasionally–such as this–to keep my bearings, ‘ya know!

The upcoming Great Austerity? It’s awash in Europe and headin’ well into the States already. Hell, another year and it may be world-wide.

But we’ll survive! Despite the crazies and the tragedies from guns, we’ll get over it. The winds are showing it. Which is enough to wish Happy New Year, readers!

If the Year 2012 did anything other than add salt-peter to the New Far Right and give President Obama four more years to squirm in what appears to be the presidency’s (government’s) growing, miserable ineptitude, it was to line us up for these World’s Great Austerity programs of the 21st Century’s early teen years, yes.

Indeed, we are to see the depth of the old biblical saying, The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away! By democratic king’s decrees.

But like free people throughout the ages have managed to do in such times, we’ll make it by fakin’ it! Hee, hee.

By further whittling our dearly beloved public servants and their projects down to size, may be just one.

Autonomous Mind is one of the bell-ringers for such optimism. This site’s loaded with it! Five different bloggers it put forth Sunday to fill our cheers–including the one above.

You Libertarian-leaners out there, dive in! The other stories are good, too. (Surely this stuff is good medicine for the soul; it’s got to be good at something. Besides mutinies!)

But other than those stream headliners, here’s some thoughts on what the old year has meant largely to me, as we stare now at 2013.

Noteworthy, first of all, is the ‘settleness’ that’s come to the family. Even though we’d moved from Presidio in 2010, relocation is a bitch! Gone are your old friends, coffee buddies, routines and habits, etc.

But finally in 2012–I’ll remember it as a mark–the Bodines settled down a lot as a family.

And then there are the birds. They’re connected in this crazy way to my improved health this year.

One cold day this past March, a few days after a visit to a hospital emergency room over pneumonia and worsening breathing problems, I’d ducked outside for something. An opportune time, it was.

As one typically tends to do in such woe-is-me times, I noticed some things in worse shape than me–the neighborhood birds!

Pigeons and whitewing doves, mostly, sprinkled with sparrows and 1-2 other wanderers I’ve yet to identify, all roost around their territorial area here, year around, mostly up under the overhangs of the various porches, gabled dormers and such.

As winter’d continued to hang on, whatever food supply these neighborhood birds were living on had been exhausted, it appeared. Thin and frazzled, they looked. So an idea hit me.

Lord, I’ll feed these damn birds of yours if’n I can just get better health! Hee, hee.

Daniel didn’t hear any booming voice from the sky. But maybe two weeks later a visiting doctor at the V.A. noticed two serious vitamin deficiencies in my blood, and prescribed some supplements.

Lo and behold! After the second day the blues had left. Divine intervention? You call it!

But folks, along April 1st ‘ya better believe I got a feeder I’ve re-worked a couple of times since, and started buying sacks of bird seed! And each morning, early, go out back and feed birds! Still doing it, too. Birds and better health, it is.

In addition, have continued to progress in developing a writing platform, in this old year leaving. Besides the progress on our two websites, I have worked on some ebooks I hope to launch in 2013.

Along that line, too, Kareli has nudged me toward launching an online weekly next year for this east El Paso side here–for one, to help her earn some extra spending money as she gets set to enter her costly high school years (and then college after that, hopefully). She’ll be designing and placing some ads. Noemi’s agreed to handle the business office end.

Thankfully, along with this nudge, we’ve located a talented young web designer and developer willing to take on the chore with us. He’s built a test site for it (simply as an announcement now) at desertzines.com–if you want to wander on over to look at it.

Been hoping and hoping some angel of the Lord will come and talk me out of it, but so far, silence. I can read between the lines–I’m not optimistic for further divine intervention toward this project.

Human beings, even hard-headed ones like me–and like many others of God’s creations he established in this constantly evolving struggle we’re in toward a heaven on earth–are extremely resilient.

We’ve always before, come back from bad times. To better ourselves. We will this time, too.

But thanks for coming along with us so far, and thanks for putting up with all my words, too. Hee, hee. Wordiness must be the Jethro Bodeen in me!

Dan Bodine

Retired justice of the peace from Presidio County in far West Texas transplanted from a long, colorful career as newspaper editor and publisher in Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Met my match with a steely eyed snake-oil salesman there once and ran for the border before he could empty both my pockets. And with God's help, started over, I did. And enjoyed it!

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